Daily Doings Of A Dog Named Dakota, Let The Barking Begin!

When I first met Author Billi Tiner on Twitter and saw the cover of The Rescue Team, the first thing that intrigued me about this wonderful book for youngsters in the “middle grades” or grades 9-12, was the cover! The cover features the two “stars” of this heartwarming and excitement filled book, Ellie, a Border Colliewith an endearing “smile” and a penchant for “spinning”, ( Shelties can certainly relate!), who was unceremoniously “dumped” off at a shelter when his owners discovered they were going to have a baby, and Toby, a silver-gray tabby cat, who was also treated less than admirably by his owners. For those who read both of my blogs, do these two remind you of anybody?

to purchase in paperback or Kindle form, click on the book cover!

That’s right! The two featured on the cover remind me of my Dakota and Cody!

When I read the first few pages I was hooked! There were many things that I loved about this book, but one of the main themes that I loved was the “pay it forward” message that Ellie and Toby display throughout the entire story. Having been rescued, they live their lives rescuing OTHERS, both people and other animals. Ellie, being a “working” dog, finds her “job”, her “purpose” rescuing others with Toby the cat, working devotedly by his side.

There are delightful “messages” or “lessons” that are learned when young people AND adults read The Rescue Team. The “pay it forward” message is clear but there are more messages such as, the power of love, devotion, determination, trust, courage, hope, to name a few.

Another aspect of The Rescue Team that I found to be delightful, was how Author Billi Tiner has the animals that are in this book “speak” to each other. There are examples of how they speak with their “eyes” throughout the book, sensing whether a person or an animal can be trusted, just by looking into their eyes. The animals in The Rescue Team “speak” to each other when no humans are around, they also have an uncanny ability to “speak” to the humans, Anne Richards, who adopts Ellie and Toby, and Brent Davis, the EMT who rescues Anne, (in more ways than one!)

Animals have an inherent form of communicating that humans who LISTEN understand, be it a “smile”, a “spin”, a tail wag, a cat showing love through brushing up against a human, Tiner shows throughout this book that SHE is an animal lover by her obvious understanding of these “gestures.”

The Rescue Team also teaches us how, often our first impressions can be wrong, as exhibited when Toby the cat is startled by Tank, the “huge” dog with the “freaky” eyes (one blue, one brown) that sent Toby running up the first tree that he could find!

The Rescue Team is a quick read, fast-moving, exciting, packed with warmhearted “feel good” moments and lessons that can be learned by both young people and adults alike.

It is a good one, especially for that age group but I enjoyed it too. The VAST majority of the books that I review are mailed to my house without my asking for them. When a publisher sees a review that is done (they see them on their own I do not send them to them, but they are on twitter etc) and they like them, they send unsolicited books to review.
Some are sent as a result of connecting with the person on Social Media (like this one, I met her on Twitter)
Some are referred to me by other authors who have liked my reviews!
Thanks! Love, Mom

They live their lives rescuing others – oh that sounds interesting – Thanks Dakota!!! The cover with Cody and Dakota would look great too ;o) Currently I haven’t enough time to read books to my staff – but it’s on my “most wanted”-list now

Thank you for the recommendation! My nephews are still young, but one loves dogs and cats. I’ll have to bookmark this for the future (or buy now and save it for later). It looks like a great book with many great lessons.

I like Billi Tiner’s books. She wrote a column at my blog last year called Ask The Vet. It was some very informative health care articles for dogs and cats. Search the blog for Ask the Vet. Thanks for sharing.